Hey, gang, I have a little challenge for you . . . .
I’ve told you before that I mine for marketing ideas across many different platforms and fields looking for nuggets of strategy and practice. I apply them in my own counseling practice and I share them with you and my consulting clients, too.
Just today I read Fast Company’s new post about how Chef Danny Bowien’s naivite’ is working well for him in his new restaurant. Several of the ideas shared there can also apply to your own private practice in mental health.
Rather than list them out for you right here, I thought I would offer up little challenge to you . . . . I’m calling it the I-Don’t-Know-What-I’m-Doing-and-It’s-Paying-Off-in-Spades Challenge!
Are you up for it? Here’s the deal . . . . Take a moment to read Fast Company’s article and then come back to Private Practice from the Inside Out to share with us your takeaways from the article. Then, next Thursday, I’ll chime in with my own!
And, if you want to maximize the takeaways that we can all glean from this challenge, make sure your colleagues and professors are sharing their ideas with us, too!
Ready . . . ? Set . . . ? Go!
Hi Tamara – I sometimes feel like I don’t know what I am doing, so your challenge intregued me! I do follow my “gut” or intuition and that is usually a good thing. What I got out of the article is this:
Risk: taking a calculated risk, partnered with humility, is good for business
Novelty and Simplicity: People are attracted to new things – and simple twists on ideas. Making something too complicated and hard to understand/grasp doesn’t work in getting folks interested.
Giving Back: We all like to feel like we are contributing to the greater good. Especially, when we can do it while satisfying our own needs – like food! But it is important in the helping profession to give back to the community we serve. I have incorporated this in my private practice by offering free school PTA presentations. I am hoping it will give me name recognition as I get my practice going!
Thanks for the post!
Vivian
Hi, Vivian! Welcome back! I appreciate you mentioning that whole risk-taking thing. It’s not my nature to be a risk-taker and that can be a problem in private practice. It’s something that I always struggle with and, when I fail to take those calculated risks, it invariably costs me in my practice. Private practice is a risky business and if you are not willing to gamble . . . willing to fail . . ., I have learned over the last 30 years that it’s likely you will . . . fail.
I love that you have integrated your values and your interests into community service and marketing, too! It’s the very best way to grow your practice!
Vivian, it’s always good to hear from you. Hope you’ll drop back in again soon to chat and share your thoughts!
I take from it that if you don’t know what you’re doing, you don’t know what you CAN’T do! And therefore you put no limitations on yourself and your creativity. Love this idea, Tamara!
Hi, Stephanie! Love that reframe and it so fits you! Which reminds me . . . . What creative things are you up to? I’m putting the finishing touches on a couple of projects for this online community right now. Can’t quite spill the beans yet . . . but hopefully before the end of the month you’ll have the details!:) Stay tuned!
Ooh, I’m excited to hear about it!
🙂 Thanks, Stephanie! Not as excited as I am about spilling the beans!
I love this take on the article, Stephanie! What an awesome attitude; I think I’ll start reframing my “green-ness” as a therapist this way 🙂
🙂 So loving that reframe, Tara!
Tara, I am glad you like it! It is something that I am constantly re-learning, but constantly finding inspirational. We are the only ones who stand in the way of our success. What amazing things we could – can – do when we learn to get out of our own way!
While reading through this article, I was struck by how my brain was not focused on how I counsel my clients, but on my new role as a supervisor. I remember when I started working with my supervisee earlier this year. At that time, another counselor was officially her supervisor, but I did work closely with her. When we started working together more formally, I had a game plan for our first session because there were certain paperwork and policy-related items that we had to cover. Otherwise, I try to cover one skill or helpful technique with her each week that is beyond the questions that she has already brought to the table. Knowing that I don’t need to come up with an agenda for the entire supervision is very helpful. Once we have discussed what has happened with her caseload, if there’s extra time, I always have other ideas in mind for us to discuss. How many weeks have we been trying to get to one of these blog posts? 🙂 We will get there sometime.
A lot of my job as a counselor and a supervisor is to listen and reflect in such a manner that the client or supervisee actually answers his or her own question. Sometimes, though, there are objective questions that I am asked, and I have become very comfortable with admitting that I don’t know everything, but I can either find out about a topic or refer them to someone who would know better. For example, if somebody asks what type of physician treats a certain medical problem, if I know what type of specialist would probably be helpful, I’ll say so. If not, I’ll refer them to their primary care physician to find out who they need to see (and in reality, they usually need to see the primary care physician first anyway). It took me quite a while to accept that I’m not always going to know everything and I’m not always going to have the best response to something that the client says or does. I’ve had to be honest with myself with the fact that I am a human being and I’m not always going to be 100% correct.
I love the idea of donations addressed here. Although there are some real ethical problems with taking some part of the money that clients give us and giving it to a charity, but in a sense, we are helping to build clients’ self-worth and positive thinking (or some other positive goal-related objective) during every session. In a sense, we’re donating our knowledge back to them.
Sensitivity to demographics is really important in the agency where I’m currently working. The majority of the clients struggle with the basics in Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs and with a few of the clients, I must be especially mindful of the pacing of sessions because they are so focused on having daily needs met (despite help of other agencies that I have referred them to), sometimes that has to be a focus part of the session to allow them to be more open to other things.
I know I’ve strayed from the idea of marketing quite a bit here, but the biggest thing I take away is that nothing is impossible!
Oh, Lauren! I’m laughing right now because your brain, like mine, tends to follow rabbit trails! I love that! The most interesting thing you said is that there are “some real ethical problems” with giving a portion of a client’s payment to charity. Can you please expand on that? I’m not sure what you mean.
Hi Tamara! I’ve been “stalking” you’re site for some time now and I just wanted to say that I love it! You offer great advice!
The article offers great insight…Neworking is so important to help get your business going from the get-go. Knowing who to network with is so beneficial for any business.
The owner seems to have a sense of humor, which is super important (to me anyway). Being able to laugh and move on, not embarrassed to admit that you don’t have all the answers is okay. Humor can help get you through moments of failure as well.
Something else I picked out, giving back to the community. We should remember there are different ways to impact the community positively, marketing and monetarily. It’s not always that we have to donate money, but offering services the community seeks, with a little spin to make it unique for the community and marketing it seriously but in a fun way may help attract the customers you desire…
I hope this makes sense, I’m typing it with one eye open and the other fast asleep! 🙂
Evan! Thanks so much for hanging out with us and thanks even more for bringing your voice to the table! (I don’t know if you’ve noticed but the men seem to be a bit more shy about speaking up here.) Thanks for the reminder that humor can be a valuable part of the equation for those of us in private practice!
I hope you’ll be back often to share your insights!
Tamara, Well, to be honest, when I initially responded, I had written that there “could be” some ethical dilemmas with with giving a portion of a client’s payment to charity, then I decided to change it. Here’s the way I’m looking at it: Of course, with the clients paying us, we have the right to do what we want to do with the money we are earning (whether I want to use my income to buy something for my office or buy a sweater from my favorite baseball team that is entirely overpriced). So, if we didn’t tell the clients we were doing that, it wouldn’t matter. But I was thinking about how I would feel if I was paying (just to use round numbers) $100 for a session and it was overtly stated that $10 was going to charity. I would be okay with that if I was the client, but if I was to take a poll where I’m working now, I can give you about a 99% guarantee that more than half of my clients would be uncomfortable with that and probably feel slighted because they don’t often have $10 to spend on what they want.
As I sit here and write this, this is why I phrased my comment that way. Now that I think about it, what I’m saying here is very true, but if a client has the means to pay for a session and $1 or so was going to charity, I don’t know whether that would work or not. Something about this is unsettling to me, so if I was to do it, I would want to check with the ACA ethics person first.
And by the way, I’m glad you got a laugh out of my truly honest ramblings. I realized at the end how far off topic I had gotten, but I thought it was relevant in different ways.
Lauren, thanks for dropping back in to clarify what you meant. I am not aware of any legal or ethical concerns related to a therapist acknowledging where they donate money. (And, I keep meaning to actually put that info up on my website.) However, having said that, I do believe that where that money is donated could very well influence how clients may feel about me, the work we do together, etc. From my perspective, that can be a really good thing. Here’s what I’m thinking . . . .
If you are working with your ideal clients, then it’s entirely possible (or not) that your client’s values are in line with your own and thus where you place your dollars. For example, I really love it that some therapists share their dollars with KIVA. I can also imagine that a therapist whose practice was focused on clergy might find he has clients who are appreciative of a therapist who donates to faith-based organizations. And, if your practice is focused on working with Tourette’s Syndrome or OCD, your clients might also appreciate your financial or service in kind donations going toward research and support of others with these diagnoses.
Your description of having clients possibly feeling slighted is interesting . . . . I wonder (1) if you are working with your ideal clients, (2) if your assumption is accurate, and (3) if they would also feel slighted if you were donating your professional services (or perhaps you already are!). What an interesting issue to ponder! Thanks, Lauren, for expanding this conversation!
What a refreshing article. He didn’t know what he was doing, but did it anyway. And he was open about it. That authenticity is missing in the larger society because of the risks involved. Perhaps that’s why he’s been successful. I truly believe that people want that honesty. That’s why I’m excited about my current life transition (from family business to professional counseling). My gut tells me that people crave that authenticity. For me, maintaining my self-truth is the number one priority in all my future practice-building activities (I have to get through graduate school first!). Thanks for posting and the challenge Tamara!
Hi, Kyle! Welcome back! I would go even further by stating that I think that authenticity is largely missing among therapists! And, I know, when I started out in private practice, was true about me, too! Graduate school is so highly competitive. We worry about our grades and how professional we look / sound and how smart we appear. It’s geared to prove what we know rather than share openly who we are.
Then, we graduate with our degree and (most of us) go out looking for a job. So . . . once again we are competing rather than collaborating or sharing . . . and we’re out to prove we are the best therapist, colleague, employee, etc.
Eventually, many of us on this sight move into private practice and wrongly feel like we need to continue to compete out of habit, fear, desperation, etc. The reality is, as you have pointed out, that really isn’t what people want. It’s not what my clients want. It’s not what I want. And, more importantly, it’s not how you become a highly effective therapist in private practice – clinically or from a business perspective.
My consulting clients hear me say this all the time . . . . If you think about your friends and mine, your family and mine, your neighbors and colleagues and mine . . . , you and I both know that there are plenty of folks needing our services! A while back I shared Dr. David Kaplan’s speech in which he confirmed this with research.
If you are a therapist who is struggling to fill the hours in your day with clients, it’s not because the market is saturated with therapists. That’s the myth we tell ourselves to make ourselves feel better. The truth is that most therapists just don’t know how to talk about what they do, to market their practices, and attract their ideal clients to them.
And the key to that? It does start with authenticity – telling others and yourself the truth about who you are, what your strengths and challenges are, and who your ideal clients are. It’s about acknowledging your fears and addressing them. It’s about finding the courage to admit that you cannot be a great therapist to all men, women and children. It’s about transparency and, oh yeah . . . you said it, Kyle. It’s about authenticity.
Tamara,
You made some really good points here, especially if I was working with a specific population and was able to give donations to something that was directly related to it. In a practice that is more general, perhaps there could be a list of possible places where donations would be made. For instance, there could be one or more charities related to depression, anxiety, anger management, domestic violence, or whatever else comes up, and donations could rotate through the list.
I suppose if it is covered in informed consent, it can be done.
That reminds me… When you update your informed consent, do you have every one of your current clients sign a new one at that time? That’s my understanding of how it has to work.
Lauren, I absolutely have seen therapists list donations – either monetary or services in kind to multiple different charities. I don’t think that it’s necessary to try to have a charity included that matches each and every client’s needs. But your reference to a “general” practice rather than a niched practice does explain why you might feel the need to do so.
And, as for those consent forms, if the revisions on the forms apply to current clients, then yes I would have them acknowledge consent to those changes. However, if the changes only apply to new clients, then there is no need to have current clients involved. An example of the latter might be if you raise your fees for new clients but choose to continue seeing your current clients at the “old” rate. Then, only new clients would need to consent to the new fees.
Just a small correction…My name is Evan but I am a woman 🙂 It’s okay, when people hear or see my name I get the gender bias all of the time…sometimes that works in my favor. (I don’t know how to get a pic on here…)
I appreciate the interaction on your site.
Oooops! And, thank you for taking time to correct me, Evan!
Here’s how you (and the rest of the gang) can get a little picture of you next to your comments. (And, thanks for asking!)
Thanks so much!
Tamara, I know this is getting further off of your original topic, but I thought we had to charge everyone the same fees (as in, if they are increased, they have to be increased across the board). I’ll look around here and see if you have covered this before… Thanks!
Nope. I know of nothing that says that. What is important is that you charge a fair fee.